The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recently got into the fight against the prejudice on using condoms: the foundation has wisely understood that if only 5 % of men around the world wear condoms regularly, the number of new HIV infections won't fall any day soon. This is the reason the organization called for The Great Challenge to develop "a next-generation condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure."

Even if the problem seems to be easy to solve - make the condom more appealing so that men would like to use them - the psychological and behavioral implications are quite complex to face.

Men have so many different ways to enjoy sex that the condom-factor is different from case to case. Some like a condom that can glow in the dark, while others prefer a transparent one so that they don't see it when they wear it. Furthermore, it is also a matter of aesthetics: for instance, female condoms are not very popular because they are considered ugly once they are worn.

Condoms designers have already proved their willingness of innovation, (check some "experiments" here, here and here) but it's not enough. You understand that the condom-factor must be seriously reconsidered if you think, for example, that the condoms sent to at-high-risk countries can often be of the wrong size (for some men they are just too big) and badly smelling of rubber.

We hope for the best to this amazing challenge and I just want to give some humble advice. Since there's a huge variety of condoms already invented, take in mind that sometimes innovation is not about the way you manufacture them: the way you sell/give them away will always play a big role and it can make the difference in the impact of this revolutionary condom. Start to think about that from now on.